The cafeteria is buzzing with Saturday afternoon excitement. All the kids are out of school and some of the adults have the day off. I follow Hendrix around the cafeteria like a lost puppy, doing my best to dodge the quickly moving Dauntless who are not watching where they are going. The large room is loud but the high dirt walls absorb some of the sound. Everywhere I look people are recklessly tossing food at one another, laughing contagiously, or getting in heated debates. Nobody is quiet and reserved like me, given that I am starting to open up. Hendrix seems to have made it her personal goal to get me to be like her and the others.
Finally, we end up at a long table where Jess and Nathan are already sat. Hendrix goes to sit next to Nathan, leaning down and giving him a deep kiss. I quickly avert my eyes to the tray of brightly colored food and Jess coughs awkwardly. "Don't be such a prude Bo, it's just a kiss." Hendrix laughs, sitting down and nodding for me to do the same.
"I doubt she's ever even kissed someone. She's a stiff." Jess says bluntly, as I push my fork back and forth through orange sauce covered rice. Jess sees my reaction and tries to correct herself, "It's okay though, it's not a part of your culture." She smiles awkwardly, obviously not used to having to correct herself to protect the feelings of others.
"Kissing looks gross." I shrug, hesitantly bringing the rice to my lips, surprised at how good it tastes. "Wow, I could easily get used to the food here."
"Especially the cake." Nathan moans, almost rolling his eyes back into his head.
"Yeah, Nathan?" Hendri asks, giving him her signature questioning look. Her voice goes up in pitch, her eyebrows raise, she smirks, and tilts her head to the side. In the past hour of knowing her I think I've seen her make that face at least 5 times, mostly directed at her boyfriend or I. Jess is generally quiet but when she does speak, she speaks with a tone of great importance.
I look at the hunk of brown iced cake on the corner of my tray. At first glance, it looks rather disgusting but the more I stare, the more my mouth waters. I start to eat my rice and chicken quicker, knowing that it is not polite to eat any form of dessert before you have finished every other part of your meal.
"Woah, slow down! What's the rush?" Hendrix laughs.
"I want to try the cake." I say sheepishly, glancing back over at the slice of cake on my tray.
"You don't have to wait, go ahead and eat it." She shrugs, lowering her eyebrows in confusion. I look appalled, and her face relaxes in realization. "Get this." She says in excitement, "In Dauntless, you don't have to eat your dessert last, you can eat it whenever you want it!" She exclaims.
My eyes light up like I just heard the best news in the world. "So, I can eat my cake right now?" I confirm. "Even though I haven't finished this odd saucy rice?" I laugh softly at my name for it.
"Go ahead." Nathan nods, "Taste the magic."
I push my fork delicately into the piece of cake, careful not to ruin the beauty that sits before me. The small sliver of moist cake atop my metal fork is a sight to see, a mystical picture for my curious mind and taste buds. I bring the fork to my chapped lips and slip the bite inside of my mouth. I look up quickly in shock when the hearty chocolate soothes over the expanse of my tongue, igniting every positive feeling you could ever feel. The warm, freshly baked, cake glides down my throat as I swallow then gasp. "That is the best thing I have ever tasted!" I laugh.
"Told you." Nathan grins triumphantly.
We all smile as I violently finish the cake with speed and agility. Not even a minute later, I'm licking my lips to make sure I got all of the chocolate icing off of them as the table of my friends laugh. "You're getting more Dauntless by the minute." Jess laughs.
I nod in agreement. "And surprisingly, I don't have a problem with it."
...
As I stand up to dispose of my tray I cry out in as the pain in my ankle demands to be felt. I plop back down on my bench and sigh. "Is it your ankle?" Hendrix asks, looking concerned.
I bite my bottom lip and nod, holding back from making anymore noises, "I'll take her to the hospital." Jess volunteers. She comes to the side of the table where I am sitting and helps me stand, wrapping her arm around my shoulders so I can lean into her.
"Thanks." I smile through the pain as she helps me limp out of the cafeteria.
"Here, I got you." I hear a manly voice from behind me and suddenly I'm lifted into the air by unfamiliar arms. I quickly notice the pale strong arms and the black tattoo sleeves on each arm. His fingers that are clasped around my arms are long and have cuts on the knuckles, like he had recently been in a fight.
"Sorry, who are you?" I ask uneasily, glancing back to look up into captivating dark blue eyes. I am taken aback by how deep they seem, like water and the galaxy mixing into one and taking form as the eyes of a brown-haired boy. His hair is styled perfectly messy, I can't tell if he styled it like that or it became that way from running around the compound.
"Zac." He smiles confidently, like I should know who that is. He senses my confusion and takes another look over me. "You're Bo aren't you? Four's sister?"
I nod sheepishly, "Yes, that would be me."
We still haven't moved since he swept me off my feet and Jess stands there with her arms folded across her chest, she doesn't look amused. "I'm Eric's brother, though I've already been initiated this year. Seems we got a lot in common stiff, both our brothers are leaders." He says.
"Is this your pathetic attempt at flirting?" Jess snaps. "Because if you didn't notice, her ankles jacked up and I actually need to take her to the hospital to get it looked at."
"Sorry, sorry!" He exclaims in fake defense, smirking at her. "I'll carry her there." He offers.
"Fine, you're leaving after that though." Jess says, turning over her shoulder and leading the way to the hospital. I am quiet the whole trip there, no matter how many times Zac tries to talk to me.
We finally reach the hospital, it has high metal doors at it's entrance, and a steel sign to label where we are. Jess pushed through the doors into the waiting room and Zac finally sets me on a bench where my ankle begins to throb. "I'll see you around Bo, tell Four that I say hello." He says, before bowing dramatically and leaving.
"What a jackass" Jess mumbles, signing me in and then sitting next to me.
"What's that?" I ask shyly, looking down as I begin to twiddle my thumbs.
"It's kind of like the male version of bitch." Jess tries to explain. "Its just, um, an insult." She nods, happy with her explanation.
"He seems, nice." I say after some thought. I wasn't raised to say anything bad about someone, no matter how much they weird me out.
Jess scoffs. "Bo, quit being so nice." She sounds annoyed. "You're Dauntless now, you don't have to say something nice about everyone you meet."
"Sorry." I apologize, still trying to get used to Dauntless culture.
"Don't apologize either, it's fine." She sighs, shaking her head at me and staring out the window.
"Okay." I mumble. I start to play with the hem of my long sleeved black shirt. The temperature is cool in the compound given it's September. The black clothing gives me some sense of confidence but I'm not ready to start showing skin. After wearing long grey robes in every weather for 15 years, sudden changes like the length of my clothing, are too much to handle right now. The long clothes also help me disguise the bruises, cuts, and rope burns that I received every day up until Marcus' death. It's been four days so they are still very evident. I have tried to not dwell on the pain or confliction I have with my father's passing and I certainly have not spoken to Four about it. Now that I live in Dauntless, I have to act dauntless. Dauntless don't cry over dead father's or over being raped.
"Bo?" I hear my name called as a nurse in all black appears next to the sign in table. I look up and give her a small smile as Jess helps me to my feet. Her and the nurse assist me in walking back into the hospital. It's one large room with beds lining 3 of the walls and supplied stored in cabinets in every free space. I am taken to the second bed on the right and I sigh in relief when I can finally lay down on it. Jess stands next to me, I feel some form of protection in her stance.
"So it's your ankle that's bothering you?" The nurse asks. Now that I get the chance to look at her I notice that she is tall and rather tan, like she spends a lot of time outside. She has a long vine tattooed on her right arm, it wraps around in swirling motions and almost looks real.
"Yes, I landed on it oddly when I jumped onto the train for the first time." I reply quietly, a light blush on my face from the embarrassment of admitting that to a Dauntless.
An amused smile lights up her face. "That's alright, let me just have a look at it." She begins to roll up the bottom of my left pant leg, having no idea what she is about to see.
My eyes widen and I try to push her away but I'm too slow. Her eyes begin to scan my swollen ankle and then the travel up a little, coming across multiple rope burns and bruises that are clearly not from jumping onto a train. "What's this Bo?" She asks in concern, looking up at me with furrowed eyebrows.
"I, I, I fall a lot." I shrug, trying not to let my voice waver. I am not prepared for someone to see the marks that Marcus left on me, especially not someone with medical training. I look over at Jess to see her reaction but she looks impassive.
"Yeah, she's tripped quite a lot since moving here. Plus she went ziplining and was strapped in real tight." Jess says, not looking quite as nervous as I do.
"Okay then." The nurse nods, looking skeptical but not asking anymore questions. "You have a light sprain so I'm gonna bandage you up and you have to promise to take it easy for a week."
I nod quickly, "I can do that."
"Perfect, would you like me to call your brother?" She asks, grabbing a bandage out of a cabinet next to the bed.
"No, I wouldn't want to bother him at work." I reply, not wanting him to see the bruises or wanting to drag him away from his job, that would be disrespectful.
"What about Tris?" She asks, looking over at Jess. She obviously doesn't feel comfortable with sending me with her.
"I have Jess, I'm okay." I smile, looking up at the both of them. They nod in unison and the nurse begins to wrap my ankle. I wince when she touches it and she gives me a pitiful look but continues to tightly wrap it.
After about 10 minutes and debates over whether I should use crutches or not, I finally leave the hospital sporting some shiny new crutches. As soon as Jess and I are alone she pulls me to the side. "Bo, those marks are not from falling. Where did you get them?" She asks sternly, looking me right in the eyes.
"I fall all the time, I don't know what you're talking about." I lie, looking at the ground and tracing circles in the gravel with the bottom of my crutch.
"I've got my eye on you Bo." Jess says, giving me a skeptical look but continuing on our slow travel back towards the pit.
That was close, I can't imagine what would happen if Jess or the nurse found out what Marcus did to me. I don't want to worry anyone, especially Four. He already has enough to deal with by being a leader, he shouldn't have to deal with me too. I just hope these bruises go away soon, so I can pretend they never existed in the first place.